DCED Webinar: Competition Policy for a Green Transition

This webinar took place on 18 November 2025.

Business environment reform (BER) and competition policy can go hand-in-hand with supporting a green transition in developing and emerging economies. While BER and competition policy provide the institutional and regulatory foundations, industrial policy takes a more active role in steering the direction of economic transformation. Competition policy traditionally focuses on efficiency and consumer welfare, but its potential role in enabling sustainability goals is gaining increasing recognition. Competition contributes to innovation and productivity, and aligning competition policy with green industrial strategies offers the chance to promote green transition while also lowering consumer prices and boosting growth.

Donors and development agencies have a critical role to play here in convening stakeholders, providing technical expertise, and facilitating dialogue between policymakers, regulators, and private sector actors. Yet, there are important trade-offs involved in decision-making between promoting overly broad exemptions which can create opportunities for businesses to shield themselves from competition, and overly strict enforcement which may deter legitimate collaborations that could advance environmental and climate objectives.

This webinar launches a new report and policy brief on the topic from the DCED's Business Environment Working Group and opens up discussion on the application of competition policy for green outcomes in practice. Jamie Smith, the lead researcher on the DCED report, will share his recommendations, and Joel Abraham joins to share insights from his work on competition policy with the Asia Pacific Regulatory Centre. The webinar will be moderated by Tobias Leeg of GIZ.

There will be an open Q&A as part of the webinar, so please come with your thoughts and questions.

For more on how policy can enable a green transition, check out past DCED webinars, and an upcoming session on Donor Approaches to Green Industrial Policy.

Photo credit: Paul Harrison.